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Installing mod_plsql

2.1 System Requirements

The following are the recommended and minimum requirements for installing and running mod_plsql:

Operating Systems

• Windows NT 4.0 with Service Pack 3 or above

• Solaris 2.6 and above

• IBM AIX 4.3.2/4.3.3

• Compaq Tru64 4.0d

• Solaris Intel 2.7

Oracle Database

• Oracle8i (Release 8.1.6)

  Note mod_plsql requires the Oracle 8.1.6 client libraries to be installed in the same Oracle Home as mod_plsql. If these libraries are installed, you can still run mod_plsql against Oracle 8.0.5 or above. For example, you can use mod_plsql to run PL/SQL procedures installed in a remote 8.0.5 database.

Web Listener

• On Solaris - Oracle HTTP Server (powered by Apache) 1.3.9 for iAS version 1.0.0

• On Windows NT - Oracle HTTP Server (powered by Apache) 1.3.12 for iAS version 1.0.1

Web Browsers

• Netscape 4.0.8 and above

• Microsoft Internet Explorer 4.0.1 with Service Pack 1 and above

2.2 Before you begin

Before you install mod_plsql using the Internet Application Server (IAS) v1.0 Oracle Universal Installer, you must satisfy the following prerequisite requirements:

• You must have a SYS user password on the database where you plan to load Oracle Web Agent (OWA) packages required by mod_plsql.

• The database to which you plan to connect mod_plsql must be up and running.

• You must have enough disk space on the machine where you plan to run the Oracle Universal Installer.

• You must have write permissions to the directory where the Oracle Universal Installer is writing its oraInventory data.

2.3 Installation

To begin the Oracle Universal Installer, execute the runInstaller application located on your product CD or stage area. Follow the instructions in each step of the installation application, including choosing a directory where you want to install iAS v1.0.1. This install directory will be referred to as <IAS_ROOT> after you choose.

2.4 Installing required packages

After installation, you must manually install additional required packages using the owaload.sql script.

1. Navigate to the directory where the owaload.sql and docload.sql files are located. This directory should be <IAS_ROOT>/Apache/modplsql/owa.

2. Log into the Oracle 8.1.6 database as the SYS user.

3. At a SQL prompt, run the following command:

   @owaload.sql log_file  
   
   
   

   where

   log_file is the installation log file.

   owaload.sql installs the OWA packages into the SYS schema. It also creates public synonyms and makes the packages public so that all users in the database have access to them. Therefore, only one installation per database is needed.

2.5 Configuring the Oracle HTTP Server Listener

The iAS installation creates configuration files that you can edit, including the following that affect mod_plsql:

<IAS_ROOT>/Apache/Apache/bin/httpdsctl

This script is used to start and stop Oracle HTTP Server. Inside this file, there are three parameters that affect mod_plsql:

• ORACLE_HOME - the Oracle Home in which mod_plsql runs. Default: <IAS_ROOT>

• LD_LIBRARY_PATH - the Oracle libraries needed by mod_plsql. This should point to an Oracle 8.1.6 installation. This parameter is for Solaris only.
  Default: <IAS_ROOT>/lib

• WV_GATEWAY_CFG - mod_plsql configuration file.
  Default on Solaris: <IAS_ROOT>/Apache/modplsql/cfg/wdbsvr.app
  Default on Windows NT <APACHE_HOME>/modplsql/cfg/wdbsvr.app

If you want to have mod_plsql running in another Oracle Home, remember to change both the ORACLE_HOME and LD_LIBRARY_PATH settings.

On Solaris, if you want mod_plsql to use a different configuration file, just update the httpdsctl file to point to the new configuration file. On Windows NT, you can click Start->Settings->Control Panel->System. Click the Environment tab, then create a System variable called WV_GATEWAY_CFG that points to the new configuration file.

<IAS_ROOT>/Apache/Apache/conf/httpds.conf

This configuration file defines the behavior of Oracle HTTP Server (powered by Apache). You can set your port number as well as other server settings.

<IAS_ROOT>/Apache/modplsql/cfg/plsql.conf

This configuration file describes settings for the mod_plsql module. There settings are configurable:

• LoadModule plsql_module <MOD_PATH> - the location of the mod_plsql module.
  Default on Solaris: <IAS_ROOT>/Apache/modplsql/bin/modplsql.so
  Default on Windows NT: <IAS_ROOT>/Apache/modplsql/bin/modplsq.dll located in $ORACLE_HOME/bin

• <Location <MOUNT_PATH>> - the prefix in the URL for which mod_plsql is invoked.
  Default: /pls

<IAS_ROOT>/Apache/modplsql/cfg/wdbsvr.app

This is the main mod_plsql configuration file. It contains all the DAD information. Please do not edit this file directly. Use mod_plsql configuration page, which you can access through your browser as shown below.

2.6 Accessing the mod_plsql configuration page

To access to mod_plsql configuration page, enter the following URL in your Web browser:

http://<hostname>:<port>/pls/DAD/<admin_path>/gateway.htm 

where:

<hostname> is the machine where the application server is running.

<port> specifies the port at which the application server is listening. If omitted, port 80 is assumed.

<admin_path> specifies the URL path element that identifies an admin page. The default is admin_. For example, if you specify the default of admin_, the following URL will invoke mod_plsql configuration page, given that the invoking user is listed in the administrators configuration setting:

http://www.myserver.com/pls/admin_/gateway.htm

Configuration settings are protected by the administration security settings. The web administration page can only be invoked by those users whose user names appear in the Administrators setting of the configuration file. See "Configuring mod_plsql" for more information.

2.6.1 pls.conf configuration file

The Oracle HTTP Listener configuration file includes the modplsql configuration file plsql.conf. The contents of plsql.conf are:

# 
# Directives added for mod_plsql 
# 
LoadModule plsql_module %APACHE_HOME%/modplsql/bin/modplsql.so 

# 
# Enable handling of all virtual paths beginning with "/pls" by mod-plsql 
# 
<Location /pls> 
  SetHandler pls_handler 
  Order deny,allow 
  Allow from all 
</Location> 

2.7 Starting and stopping the Oracle HTTP Server Listener

To start the Apache listener, type:

<IAS_ROOT>/Apache/Apache/bin/httpdsctl start 

To start the Apache listener with SSL. support, type:

<IAS_ROOT>/Apache/Apache/bin/httpdsctl startssl 

To stop the Apache listener, type:

> <IAS_ROOT>/Apache/Apache/bin/httpdsctl stop